What do you need to study to ensure you're always in a job? These are the degrees with the best job placement.

Studying to design online games and applications of all kinds; to manufacture products that combine mechanics, computing, electronics, and control; and to be able to pilot a commercial airplane. These are three of the fields of study with the best job prospects in Catalonia. This is illustrated by the latest report on job placement data published by the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia (AQU Catalunya), which once again crowns engineering as the branch of knowledge that guarantees a more stable career.

In Catalonia, of the 10 programs with the highest average monthly gross earnings on a full-time basis, seven are in the engineering field. As for the degrees with the highest employment rates, the top spot is held by ex aequo Two engineering programs: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Systems and Forestry, both offering a 100% employment rate for those who study them. Those who have studied ICT organization can also be pleased: 100% of the graduates surveyed by AQU have permanent contracts. Meanwhile, the engineering programs in aerospace vehicles, mechatronics, industrial organization, telematics, and geoinformation stand out for having the highest number of full-time professionals.

Studies related to science, health, and social and legal sciences are the other three areas that stand out for their positive job prospects. In terms of gross monthly earnings, degrees in medicine and dentistry stand out, with average salaries of €3,510.30 and €3,145.80, respectively. The report also identifies optics and optometry as the field in which graduates find work most quickly: 98% of those surveyed were already working three months after completing their studies.

Degrees provide work

"The percentage of graduates working full-time reaches 85%, a figure that has increased by 4 percentage points compared to 2020," highlights AQU Catalunya in the report. However, although the percentage of full-time workers has grown in all areas of knowledge, humanities degrees have the lowest percentage of people working full-time: in 2023, only 72.1% could say so. In fact, the humanities continue to be the branch of knowledge with the most disciplines occupying the bottom of the labor indicators rankings.

If we look at full-time gross monthly earnings, only two humanities studies exceed the €2,000 mark: design, with €2,127.10, and literary studies, with €2,031.90. The average is €1,893.70, almost €1,000 below the average gross monthly earnings for engineering, which the report sets at €2,703.40. "Humanities studies have the lowest salaries and the fewest internal discrepancies. Fine Arts is the subfield with the lowest average salary across the entire system, at €1,656.80," the report's authors emphasize.

Satisfaction remains

Another aspect assessed by AQU Catalunya is the level of satisfaction among graduates. 70% say they would take the same degree again. However, compared to previous years, the indicator has dropped by nearly 3 percentage points. "40% of those who would not take the same degree again cite the quality of the degree as reasons, which shows that there is room for improvement in the design and implementation of the degrees," the report notes.

Specifically, one of the objectives that prompted the organization to develop this study was to provide Catalan universities with tools to continue improving. "We hope this analysis will be of interest to all those interested in better understanding the Catalan university system and its impact on the labor market, but above all, we hope the data and results can be used as tools for improving degrees," emphasizes Jaume Valls, director of the organization, in the introduction.